110-462: Clement Attlee Labour Winston Churchill Conservative The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held twenty months after the 1950 general election , which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats. The Labour government called a snap election for Thursday 25 October 1951 in the hope of increasing its parliamentary majority. This election is remarkable for
220-537: A barrister at the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in March 1906. He worked for a time at his father's law firm Druces and Attlee but did not enjoy the work, and had no particular ambition to succeed in the legal profession. He also played football for non-League club Fleet . Attlee's father died in 1908, leaving an estate valued for probate at £75,394 (equivalent to £9,943,044 in 2023 ). In 1906, Attlee became
330-467: A civil action against Attlee and the other Labour members of the committee (although not against the Conservative members who had also supported this). The court found against Attlee and his fellow councillors and they were ordered to pay £300 damages. The decision was later reversed on appeal, but the financial problems caused by the episode almost forced Attlee out of politics. In 1927, he was appointed
440-426: A civilised community, although it may be composed of self-reliant individuals, there will be some persons who will be unable at some period of their lives to look after themselves, and the question of what is to happen to them may be solved in three ways – they may be neglected, they may be cared for by the organised community as of right, or they may be left to the goodwill of individuals in the community. [...] Charity
550-409: A different political party or faction is in power. A re-nationalization process may also be called "reverse privatization". Nationalization has been used to refer to either direct state-ownership and management of an enterprise or to a government acquiring a large controlling share of a publicly listed corporation . According to research by Paasha Mahdavi, leaders who consider nationalization face
660-482: A dilemma: "nationalize and reap immediate gains while risking future prosperity, or maintain private operations, thereby passing on revenue windfalls but securing long-term fiscal streams." He argues that leaders "nationalize extractive resources to extend the duration of their power" by using "this increased capital to secure political support." Nationalization can have positive and negative effects. In 2019 research based on studies from Greenwich University found that
770-553: A drastic and entire reshuffling of these populations there is no possible solution to the problem of minorities in Europe except toleration. However, the new Czechoslovakian state did not provide equal rights to the Slovaks and Sudeten Germans, with the historian Arnold J. Toynbee already having noted that "for the Germans, Magyars and Poles, who account between them for more than one quarter of
880-624: A few of his allies formed a National Government with the Conservatives and Liberals , leading them to be expelled from Labour. MacDonald offered Attlee a job in the National Government, but he turned down the offer and opted to stay loyal to the main Labour party. After Ramsay MacDonald formed the National Government, Labour was deeply divided. Attlee had long been close to MacDonald and now felt betrayed—as did most Labour politicians. During
990-426: A government to take property in certain situations. Due to political risks that are involved when countries engage in international business, it is important to understand the expropriation risks and laws within each of the countries in which business is conducted in order to understand the risks as an investor in that country. Studies have found that nationalization follows a cyclical trend. Nationalization rose in
1100-425: A halt in the armaments race ... We do not think that our answer to Herr Hitler should be just rearmament. We are in an age of rearmaments, but we on this side cannot accept that position". Attlee played little part in the events that would lead up to the abdication of Edward VIII , for despite Baldwin's threat to step down if Edward attempted to remain on the throne after marrying Wallis Simpson , Labour
1210-468: A landslide victory in the 1945 general election , on their post-war recovery platform. They inherited a country close to bankruptcy following the Second World War and beset by food, housing and resource shortages. Attlee led the construction of the first Labour majority government , which aimed to maintain full employment , a mixed economy and a greatly enlarged system of social services provided by
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#17330854773701320-470: A later stage, they are said to have undergone renationalization . Industries often subject to nationalization include telecommunications , electric power , fossil fuels , railways , airlines , iron ore , media , postal services , banks , and water (sometimes called the commanding heights of the economy ), and in many jurisdictions such entities have no history of private ownership. Nationalization may occur with or without financial compensation to
1430-587: A lifelong dislike of Morrison. At the 1922 general election , Attlee became the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Limehouse in Stepney . At the time, he admired Ramsay MacDonald and helped him get elected as Labour Party leader at the 1922 leadership election . He served as MacDonald's Parliamentary Private Secretary for the brief 1922 parliament. His first taste of ministerial office came in 1924, when he served as Under-Secretary of State for War in
1540-509: A majority. I am convinced it would be fatal for the Labour Party." He also wrote that there was no point in "watering down Labour's socialist creed in order to attract new adherents who cannot accept the full socialist faith. On the contrary, I believe that it is only a clear and bold policy that will attract this support". In the late 1930s, Attlee sponsored a Jewish mother and her two children, enabling them to leave Germany in 1939 and move to
1650-496: A man of character. Despite his mishandling of the Red Letter episode, I had not appreciated his defects until he took office a second time. I then realised his reluctance to take positive action and noted with dismay his increasing vanity and snobbery, while his habit of telling me, a junior Minister, the poor opinion he had of all his Cabinet colleagues made an unpleasant impression. I had not, however, expected that he would perpetrate
1760-446: A member of the multi-party Simon Commission , a royal commission set up to examine the possibility of granting self-rule to India . Due to the time he needed to devote to the commission, and contrary to a promise MacDonald made to Attlee to induce him to serve on the commission, he was not initially offered a ministerial post in the second Labour government , which entered office after the 1929 general election . Attlee's service on
1870-480: A new world. A world of law, the abolition of national armaments with a world force and a world economic system. I shall be told that that is quite impossible". Shortly after those comments, Adolf Hitler proclaimed that German rearmament offered no threat to world peace. Attlee responded the next day noting that Hitler's speech, although containing unfavourable references to the Soviet Union , created "A chance to call
1980-561: A rift between him and his older brother Tom, who, as a conscientious objector , spent much of the war in prison. After a period spent fighting in Gallipoli, Attlee collapsed after falling ill with dysentery and was put on a ship bound for England to recover. When he woke up he wanted to get back to action as soon as possible, and asked to be let off the ship in Malta, where he stayed in hospital in order to recover. His hospitalisation coincided with
2090-409: A ruthless despotism... The events of these last few days constitute one of the greatest diplomatic defeats that this country and France have ever sustained. There can be no doubt that it is a tremendous victory for Herr Hitler. Without firing a shot, by the mere display of military force, he has achieved a dominating position in Europe which Germany failed to win after four years of war. He has overturned
2200-584: A senior partner in the law firm of Druces, also serving a term as president of the Law Society of England and Wales . In 1898 he purchased a 200-acre (81 ha) estate, Comarques in Thorpe-le-Soken , Essex. At the age of nine, Attlee was sent to board at Northaw Place , a boys' preparatory school in Hertfordshire . In 1896 he followed his brothers to Haileybury College , where he was a middling student. He
2310-617: A series of War Cabinet debates over whether or not to negotiate peace terms with Hitler following the Fall of France in May 1940; both supported Churchill and gave him the majority he needed in the War Cabinet to continue Britain's resistance. Only Attlee and Churchill remained in the War Cabinet from the formation of the Government of National Unity in May 1940 through to the election in May 1945. Attlee
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#17330854773702420-435: A state of war. We have been unable to go in for care-free rejoicing. We have felt that we are in the midst of a tragedy... [and] humiliation. This has not been a victory for reason and humanity. It has been a victory for brute force. At every stage of the proceedings there have been time limits laid down... [the] terms laid down as ultimata. We have seen to-day a gallant, civilised and democratic people betrayed and handed over to
2530-537: A strategy to build socialism, more commonly nationalization was also undertaken and used to protect and develop industries perceived as being vital to a nation's competitiveness (such as aerospace and shipbuilding), or to protect jobs in certain industries. Nationalization has had varying levels of support throughout history. After the Second World War , nationalization was supported by social democratic and democratic socialist parties throughout Western Europe, such as
2640-552: A volunteer at Haileybury House, a charitable club for working-class boys in Stepney in the East End of London run by his old school, and from 1907 to 1909 he served as the club's manager. Until then, his political views had been more conservative. However, after his shock at the poverty and deprivation he saw while working with the slum children, he came to the view that private charity would never be sufficient to alleviate poverty and that only direct action and income redistribution by
2750-566: A world order before our loyalty to our own country. We say we want to see put on the statute book something which will make our people citizens of the world before they are citizens of this country". During a debate on defence in Commons a year later, Attlee said "We are told (in the White Paper) that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can do it by national defence. We think you can only do it by moving forward to
2860-578: Is bound to another, right or wrong, by some overwhelming necessity—is contrary to the spirit of the League of Nations, is contrary to the Covenant, is contrary to Locarno is contrary to the obligations which this country has undertaken, and is contrary to the professed policy of this Government". At the Labour Party conference at Edinburgh in October Attlee reiterated that "There can be no question of our supporting
2970-585: Is often ranked as one of the greatest British prime ministers , receiving particular praise for his government's welfare state reforms, creation of the NHS, continuation of the " Special Relationship " with the US, and involvement in NATO. Attlee was born on 3 January 1883 in Putney , Surrey (now part of London), into an upper middle-class family, the seventh of eight children. His father
3080-401: Is only possible without loss of dignity between equals. A right established by law, such as that to an old age pension, is less galling than an allowance made by a rich man to a poor one, dependent on his view of the recipient's character, and terminable at his caprice. In 1921, George Lansbury , the Labour mayor of the neighbouring borough of Poplar , and future Labour Party leader, launched
3190-469: Is the most recent general election in which any candidates have been returned unopposed although there have been later unopposed by-elections . The subsequent Labour defeat was significant for several reasons. The party polled almost a quarter-million votes more than the Conservative Party and its National Liberal Party ally combined; won the most votes that Labour has ever won (as of 2019); and won
3300-401: Is the seizure of private property by a public agency for a purpose deemed to be in the public interest. It may also be used as a penalty for criminal proceedings. Expropriation differs from eminent domain in that the property owner is not compensated for the seized property. Unlike eminent domain, expropriation may also refer to the taking of private property by a private entity authorized by
3410-437: The 1935 election , which saw the party stage a partial comeback from its disastrous 1931 performance, winning 38 per cent of the vote, the highest share Labour had won up to that point, and gaining over one hundred seats. Attlee stood in the subsequent leadership election , held soon afterward, where he was opposed by Herbert Morrison , who had just re-entered parliament in the recent election, and Arthur Greenwood : Morrison
1951 United Kingdom general election - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-466: The 1945 election , was beginning to lose cabinet ministers, such as Ernest Bevin (death) and Stafford Cripps (health issues). The Conservative Party , however, had more MPs since the 1950 general election . The Labour Party entered the election by being weakened by the emerging schism between Gaitskellites , on the right of the party, and the Bevanites , on its left. The party's manifesto stated that
3630-587: The Battle of Sari Bair , which saw a large number of his comrades killed. Upon returning to action, he was informed that his company had been chosen to hold the final lines during the evacuation of Suvla . As such, he was the penultimate man to be evacuated from Suvla Bay , the last being General Stanley Maude . The Gallipoli Campaign had been engineered by the First Lord of the Admiralty , Winston Churchill . Although it
3740-772: The Cold War . He supported the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe with American money and, in 1949, promoted the NATO military alliance against the Soviet bloc . After leading Labour to a narrow victory at the 1950 general election , he sent British troops to fight alongside South Korea in the Korean War . Despite his social reforms and economic programme food, housing and resource shortages persisted throughout his premiership, alongside recurrent currency crises and dependence on US aid. His party
3850-504: The Home Counties and East Anglia . Under the first-past-the-post electoral system, many Labour votes were "wasted" because they were included in large majorities for MPs in safe seats . Total votes cast: 28,596,594. Headline swing: 1.13% to Conservative. All comparisons are with the 1950 election. Clement Attlee [REDACTED] Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967),
3960-513: The Leader of the Opposition . On the verge of resigning from Parliament, he was persuaded to stay by Stafford Cripps, a wealthy socialist, who agreed to make a donation to party funds to pay him an additional salary until Lansbury could take over again. During 1932–33 Attlee flirted with, and then drew back from radicalism – influenced by Stafford Cripps, who was then on the radical wing of the party. He
4070-677: The London School of Economics . Attlee returned to local politics in the immediate post-war period, becoming mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney , one of London's most deprived inner-city boroughs, in 1919. During his time as mayor, the council undertook action to tackle slum landlords who charged high rents but refused to spend money on keeping their property in habitable condition. The council served and enforced legal orders on homeowners to repair their property. It also appointed health visitors and sanitary inspectors, reducing
4180-613: The London School of Economics ; with his work briefly interrupted by service as an officer in the First World War . In 1919, he became mayor of Stepney and in 1922 was elected as the Member for Limehouse . Attlee served in the first Labour minority government led by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, and then joined the Cabinet during MacDonald's second minority (1929–1931). After retaining his seat in Labour's landslide defeat of 1931 , he became
4290-758: The Minority Report as he was very active in Fabian Society circles, in which he would go round visiting many political societies—Liberal, Conservative and socialist—to explain and popularise the ideas, as well as recruiting lecturers deemed suitable to work on the campaign. In 1911, he was employed by the Government as an "official explainer"—touring the country to explain Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George 's National Insurance Act . He spent
4400-630: The National Parks system, passed the New Towns Act 1946 and established the town and country planning system . Attlee's foreign policy focused on decolonisation efforts, including the partition of India (1947), the independence of Burma and Ceylon , and the dissolution of the British mandates of Palestine and Transjordan . Attlee and Bevin encouraged the United States to take a vigorous role in
4510-586: The Poplar Rates Rebellion ; a campaign of disobedience seeking to equalise the poor relief burden across all the London boroughs. Attlee, who was a personal friend of Lansbury, strongly supported this. However, Herbert Morrison , the Labour mayor of nearby Hackney , and one of the main figures in the London Labour Party , strongly denounced Lansbury and the rebellion. During this period, Attlee developed
1951 United Kingdom general election - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-582: The "farce" of the Non-Intervention Committee organised by the British and French governments. In the House of Commons, Attlee stated, "I cannot understand the delusion that if Franco wins with Italian and German aid, he will immediately become independent. I think it is a ridiculous proposition." Dalton, the Labour Party's spokesman on foreign policy, also thought that Franco would ally with Germany and Italy. However, Franco's subsequent behaviour proved it
4730-633: The 1960s and 1970s, followed by an increase in privatization in the 80s and 90s, followed again by an increase in nationalization in the 2000s and 2010s. The term appears as "expropriation of expropriators ( ruling classes )" in Marxist theory , and also as the slogan "Loot the looters!" ("грабь награбленное"), which was very popular during the Russian October Revolution . The term is also used to describe nationalization campaigns by communist states , such as dekulakization and collectivization in
4840-773: The 30th Company of the same battalion; however, he did not deploy to France with it in December 1917, as he was transferred back to the South Lancashire Regiment on 28 November. After fully recovering from his injuries, he was sent to France in June 1918 to serve on the Western Front for the final months of the war. After being discharged from the Army in January 1919, he returned to Stepney , and returned to his old job lecturing part-time at
4950-523: The BBC Alexandra Palace studio in London. Graham Hutton , David Butler and H. G. Nicholas headed the election night coverage from 10.15pm to 4.00am on the television service. On the following day, television coverage started at 10.00am and continued throughout the day until 5.00pm. King George VI feared since that the government had such a slim majority, and he was to leave the country to go on his planned Commonwealth tour in early 1952, there
5060-451: The Britain of 1951 with that of the interwar years in which there had been largely Conservative-led governments by noting that the interwar period had seen " mass-unemployment ; mass fear; mass misery". It did not promise more nationalisations , unlike in the previous year's election, and instead focused on offering more council housing and a pledge to "associate the workers more closely with
5170-472: The British Labour Party . In the United States, potentially nationalizing healthcare is often a topic of political disagreement and makes frequent appearances in debates between political candidates. A 2020 poll shows that a majority (63%) of Americans support a nationalized healthcare system. A re-nationalization occurs when state-owned assets are privatized and later nationalized again, often when
5280-487: The Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal on 12 May. Attlee and Churchill quickly agreed that the War Cabinet would consist of three Conservatives (initially Churchill, Chamberlain and Lord Halifax ) and two Labour members (initially himself and Arthur Greenwood ) and that Labour should have slightly more than one third of the posts in the coalition government. Attlee and Greenwood played a vital role in supporting Churchill during
5390-514: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain , introduced a Budget which increased the amount spent on the armed forces. Attlee made a radio broadcast in opposition to it, saying: [The budget] was the natural expression of the character of the present Government. There was hardly any increase allowed for the services which went to build up the life of the people, education and health. Everything
5500-489: The Commission equipped him with a thorough exposure to India and many of its political leaders. By 1933 he argued that British rule was alien to India and was unable to make the social and economic reforms necessary for India's progress. He became the British leader most sympathetic to Indian independence (as a dominion), preparing him for his role in deciding on independence in 1947. In May 1930, Labour MP Oswald Mosley left
5610-662: The Conservative purpose. Significantly, they did not propose to dismantle the British welfare state or the National Health Service which the Labour government had established. The manifesto, however, promised to "stop all further nationalisation" and to repeal the Steel Act , which had been introduced by the Labour government and was being implemented during the election season. The Conservatives also attacked Labour for ending wartime rationing and price controls too slowly and for
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#17330854773705720-405: The Government in its rearmament policy". However, with the rising threat from Nazi Germany , and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations, this policy eventually lost credibility. By 1937, Labour had jettisoned its pacifist position and came to support rearmament and oppose Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement . However Attlee and the Labour Party strongly opposed conscription when it
5830-581: The Leader Arthur Henderson , lost their seats. Attlee, however, narrowly retained his Limehouse seat, with his majority being slashed from 7,288 to just 551. He was one of only three Labour MPs who had experience of government to retain their seats, along with George Lansbury and Stafford Cripps . Accordingly, Lansbury was elected Leader unopposed, with Attlee as his deputy. Most of the remaining Labour MPs after 1931 were elderly trade-union officials who could not contribute much to debates; Lansbury
5940-613: The UK. On arriving in Britain, Attlee invited one of the children into his home in Stanmore , north-west London, where he stayed for several months. Attlee remained as Leader of the Opposition when the Second World War broke out in September 1939. The ensuing disastrous Norwegian campaign would result in a motion of no confidence in Neville Chamberlain . Although Chamberlain survived this,
6050-559: The USSR . However, nationalization is not a specifically socialist strategy, and Marxism's founders were skeptical of its value. As Engels put it: Therein precisely lies the rub; for, so long as the propertied classes remain at the helm, nationalisation never abolishes exploitation but merely changes its form — in the French, American or Swiss republics no less than in monarchist Central, and despotic Eastern, Europe. Nikolai Bukharin also criticised
6160-513: The administration of public industries and services". However, it remained opposed to full workers' control of industries. While Labour began to have some policy divisions during the election campaign, the Conservatives ran an efficient campaign, which was well-funded and orchestrated. Their manifesto, Britain Strong and Free , stressed that safeguarding "our traditional way of life" was integral to
6270-460: The balance of power in Europe... [and] destroyed the last fortress of democracy in Eastern Europe which stood in the way of his ambition. He has opened his way to the food, the oil and the resources which he requires in order to consolidate his military power, and he has successfully defeated and reduced to impotence the forces that might have stood against the rule of violence. [...] The cause [of
6380-617: The country. Churchill chaired the first two, the War cabinet and the Defence Committee, with Attlee deputising for him in these, and answering for the government in Parliament when Churchill was absent. Attlee himself instituted, and later chaired the third body, the Lord President's Committee , which was responsible for overseeing domestic affairs. As Churchill was most concerned with overseeing
6490-430: The course of the second Labour government, Attlee had become increasingly disillusioned with MacDonald, whom he came to regard as vain and incompetent, and of whom he later wrote scathingly in his autobiography. He would write: In the old days I had looked up to MacDonald as a great leader. He had a fine presence and great oratorical power. The unpopular line which he took during the First World War seemed to mark him as
6600-407: The crisis which we have undergone] was not the existence of minorities in Czechoslovakia; it was not that the position of the Sudeten Germans had become intolerable. It was not the wonderful principle of self-determination. It was because Herr Hitler had decided that the time was ripe for another step forward in his design to dominate Europe... The minorities question is no new one. [...] [And] short of
6710-403: The fact that despite the Labour Party winning the popular vote (48.8%) and achieving the highest-ever total vote (13,948,385) at the time, the Conservative Party won a majority of 17 seats. This unusual phenomenon can be attributed to the collapse of the Liberal vote, which enabled the Conservatives to win seats by default. The Labour Party has never gone on to equal or surpass the voteshare or
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#17330854773706820-456: The first and second ballots, formally being elected Leader of the Labour Party on 3 December 1935. Throughout the 1920s and most of the 1930s, the Labour Party's official policy had been to oppose rearmament, instead supporting internationalism and collective security under the League of Nations . At the 1934 Labour Party Conference, Attlee declared that, "We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting
6930-635: The former owners . Nationalization is distinguished from property redistribution in that the government retains control of nationalized property . Some nationalizations take place when a government seizes property acquired illegally. For example, in 1945 the French government seized the car-maker Renault because its owners had collaborated with the 1940–1944 Nazi occupiers of France . In September 2021, Berliners voted to expropriate over 240,000 housing units , many of which were being held unoccupied as investment property. Economists distinguish between nationalization and socialization , which refers to
7040-401: The government. Attlee effectively served as Labour's acting-leader for nine months from December 1933, after Lansbury fractured his thigh in an accident; this raised Attlee's public profile considerably. It was during this period, however, that personal financial problems almost forced Attlee to quit politics altogether. His wife had become ill, and at that time there was no separate salary for
7150-416: The greatest betrayal in the political history of this country ... The shock to the Party was very great, especially to the loyal workers of the rank-and-file who had made great sacrifices for these men. The general election held in October 1931 proved disastrous for the Labour Party, which lost over 200 seats, returning only 52 MPs to Parliament. The vast majority of the party's senior figures, including
7260-424: The infant mortality rate, and took action to find work for returning unemployed ex-servicemen. In 1920, while mayor, he wrote his first book, The Social Worker , which set out many of the principles that informed his political philosophy and that were to underpin the actions of his government in later years. The book attacked the idea that looking after the poor could be left to voluntary action. He wrote that: In
7370-428: The left or of the right. He always supported the crown , and as Prime Minister was close to King George VI . George Lansbury , a committed pacifist , resigned as the Leader of the Labour Party at the 1935 Party Conference on 8 October, after delegates voted in favour of sanctions against Italy for its aggression against Abyssinia . Lansbury had strongly opposed the policy, and felt unable to continue leading
7480-416: The leg by shrapnel from friendly fire while storming an enemy trench during the Battle of Hanna . The battle was an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the Siege of Kut , and many of Attlee's fellow soldiers were also wounded or killed. He was sent firstly to India , and then back to the UK to recover. On 18 December 1916 he was transferred to the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps , and 1 March 1917 he
7590-408: The most votes of any political party in any election in British political history, a number that would not be surpassed until the Conservative Party's victory in 1992 . However, the Conservative Party formed the next government with a majority of 17 seats. It performed much better with male working-class voters than in the elections of 1945 or 1950 and tipped the vote away from Labour in Lancashire ,
7700-442: The motivations of the nationalizing party. Nationalization was employed towards the Panama Canal by the Panamanian Government, which came under the Panama Canal Authority in 1999, to internationally positive effect. Likewise, the Suez Canal was nationalized multiple times throughout history. In Germany, the Federal Press [ Bundesdruckerei ] was nationalized in 2008 with positive revenue and net income since. Expropriation
7810-434: The nationalization of key services such as water, bus, railways and broadband in the United Kingdom could save £13bn every year. Nationalization may produce other effects, such as reducing competition in the marketplace, which in turn reduces incentives to innovation and maintains high prices. In the short run, nationalization can provide a larger revenue stream for government but may cause that industry to falter depending on
7920-513: The party "proud of its record, sure in its policies—confidently asks the electors to renew its mandate". It identified four key tasks facing the United Kingdom that it would tackle: the need to work for peace, the need to work to "maintain full employment and to increase production", the need to reduce cost of living and the need to "build a just society". The manifesto argued that only a Labour government could achieve those tasks. It also contrasted
8030-557: The party after its rejection of his proposals for solving the unemployment problem, and Attlee was given Mosley's post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . In March 1931, he became Postmaster General , a post he held for five months until August, when the Labour government fell , after failing to agree on how to tackle the financial crisis of the Great Depression . That month MacDonald and
8140-468: The party's Deputy Leader . Elected Leader of the Labour Party in 1935, and at first advocating pacificism and opposing re-armament , he became a critic of Neville Chamberlain 's policy of appeasement in the lead-up to the Second World War . Attlee took Labour into the wartime coalition government in 1940 and served under Winston Churchill, initially as Lord Privy Seal and then as Deputy Prime Minister from 1942. The Labour Party, led by Attlee, won
8250-666: The party's history by getting just 2.5% of the vote and winning only six seats. The popular vote of the Liberals and later the Liberal Democrats has not fallen so low since, but their lowest number of six seats would be matched in several future elections. The Liberal Party's growing irrelevance weakened the Labour Party since two thirds of potential Liberal voters supported the Conservatives. Four candidates were returned unopposed, all of them Ulster Unionists in Northern Ireland. It
8360-479: The party. Taking advantage of the disarray in the Labour Party, the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced on 19 October that a general election would be held on 14 November. With no time for a leadership contest, the party agreed that Attlee should serve as interim leader, on the understanding that a leadership election would be held after the general election. Attlee therefore led Labour through
8470-670: The people will have to pay for their mistake in believing that it could be trusted to carry out a policy of peace. [...] This is a War Budget. We can look in the future for no advance in Social Legislation. All available resources are to be devoted to armaments. In June 1936, the Conservative MP Duff Cooper called for an Anglo-French alliance against possible German aggression and called for all parties to support one. Attlee condemned this: "We say that any suggestion of an alliance of this kind—an alliance in which one country
8580-437: The process of restructuring the economic framework, organizational structure, and institutions of an economy on a socialist basis. By contrast, nationalization does not necessarily imply social ownership and the restructuring of the economic system . Historically, states have carried out nationalizations for various different purposes under a wide variety of different political systems and economic systems . Nationalization
8690-481: The reputation of his administration was so badly and publicly damaged that it became clear a coalition government would be necessary. Even if Attlee had personally been prepared to serve under Chamberlain in an emergency coalition government, he would never have been able to carry Labour with him. Consequently, Chamberlain tendered his resignation, and Labour and the Conservatives entered a coalition government led by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940, with Attlee joining
8800-534: The rise of industrial conflicts after the end of the wartime wage freeze and the Defence Regulations bans on strike actions . As for the Liberal Party , its poor election result in 1950 only worsened this time. Unable to get the same insurance against losses of deposits of the previous year, it fielded only 109 candidates, as opposed to 478 in 1950, and thus posted the worst general election result in
8910-661: The short-lived first Labour government , led by MacDonald. Attlee opposed the 1926 General Strike , believing that strike action should not be used as a political weapon. However, when it happened, he did not attempt to undermine it. At the time of the strike, he was chairman of the Stepney Borough Electricity Committee. He negotiated a deal with the Electrical Trade Union so that they would continue to supply power to hospitals, but would end supplies to factories. One firm, Scammell and Nephew Ltd, took
9020-538: The state would have any serious effect. This sparked a process that caused him to convert to socialism . He joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1908 and became active in local politics. In 1909, he stood unsuccessfully at his first election, as an ILP candidate for Stepney Borough Council. He also worked briefly as a secretary for Beatrice Webb in 1909, before becoming a secretary for Toynbee Hall . He worked for Webb's campaign of popularisation of
9130-546: The state. To this end, it undertook the nationalisation of public utilities and major industries, and implemented wide-ranging social reforms, including the passing of the National Insurance Act 1946 and National Assistance Act 1948 , the formation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, and the enlargement of public subsidies for council house building. His government also reformed trade union legislation, working practices and children's services; it created
9240-554: The summer of that year touring Essex and Somerset on a bicycle, explaining the Act at public meetings. A year later, he became a lecturer at the London School of Economics , teaching social science and public administration . Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Attlee applied to join the British Army . Initially his application was turned down, as his age of 31
9350-605: The top leadership role for a man they regarded as having little charisma; Beatrice Webb wrote in her diary in early 1940: Nationalisations Nationalization ( nationalisation in British English ) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state . Nationalization contrasts with privatization and with demutualization . When previously nationalized assets are privatized and subsequently returned to public ownership at
9460-419: The total vote that it acquired in this election. The Conservatives, however, would break the record of the highest votes in 1992 and again in 2019 . It would also exceed the 48.8% voteshare won by the Labour Party, in the 1955 and 1959 elections winning over 49% in each case. The election marked the return of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister and the beginning of Labour's 13-year spell in opposition. It
9570-458: The university lifestyle—rowing, reading and socializing". He was later described by a tutor as "level-headed, industrious, dependable man with no brilliance of style ... but with excellent sound judgement". At university he had little interest in politics or economics, later describing his views at this time as "good old fashioned imperialist conservative". He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1904 with second-class honours . Attlee then trained as
9680-407: The war effort, this arrangement suited both men. Attlee himself had largely been responsible for creating these arrangements with Churchill's backing, streamlining the machinery of government and abolishing many committees. He also acted as a conciliator in the government, smoothing over tensions which frequently arose between Labour and Conservative Ministers. Many Labour activists were baffled by
9790-654: The whole population, the present regime in Czechoslovakia is not essentially different from the regimes in the surrounding countries". Anthony Eden in the Munich debate acknowledged that there had been "discrimination, even severe discrimination" against the Sudeten Germans. In 1937, Attlee wrote a book entitled The Labour Party in Perspective that sold fairly well in which he set out some of his views. He argued that there
9900-513: Was Henry Attlee, a solicitor, and his mother was Ellen Bravery Watson, daughter of Thomas Simons Watson, secretary for the Art Union of London . His parents were "committed Anglicans" who read prayers and psalms each morning at breakfast. Attlee grew up in a two-storey villa with a large garden and tennis court, staffed by three servants and a gardener. His father, a political Liberal , had inherited family interests in milling and brewing, and became
10010-408: Was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill , and Leader of the Opposition on three occasions: from 1935 to 1940, briefly in 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. He remains the longest serving Labour leader. Attlee
10120-501: Was a possibility of a change of government in his absence. Clement Attlee decided to call the election to assuage that concern. (In the event, the King became too ill to travel and delegated the tour to his daughter Princess Elizabeth shortly before his death in February 1952.) Parliament was dissolved on 5 October 1951. The Labour government, which had implemented most of its manifesto from
10230-510: Was born into an upper-middle-class family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending Haileybury College and the University of Oxford , he practised as a barrister . The volunteer work he carried out in London's East End exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the Independent Labour Party , gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at
10340-560: Was briefly a member of the Socialist League , which had been formed by former Independent Labour Party (ILP) members who opposed the ILP's disaffiliation from the main Labour Party in 1932. At one point he agreed with the proposition put forward by Cripps that gradual reform was inadequate and that a socialist government would have to pass an emergency powers act, allowing it to rule by decree to overcome any opposition by vested interests until it
10450-408: Was devoted to piling up the instruments of death. The Chancellor expressed great regret that he should have to spend so much on armaments, but said that it was absolutely necessary and was due only to the actions of other nations. One would think to listen to him that the Government had no responsibility for the state of world affairs. [...] The Government has now resolved to enter upon an arms race, and
10560-617: Was in his 70s, and Stafford Cripps – another main figure of the Labour front-bench who had entered Parliament in January 1931 – lacked parliamentary experience. As one of the most capable and experienced of the remaining Labour MPs, Attlee therefore shouldered a lot of the burden of providing an opposition to the National Government in the years 1931 to 1935 ; during this time he had to extend his knowledge of subjects which he had not studied in any depth before (such as finance and foreign affairs) in order to provide an effective opposition to
10670-452: Was influenced by the Darwinist views of his housemaster Frederick Webb Headley , and in 1899 he published an attack on striking London cab-drivers in the school magazine, predicting they would soon have to "beg for their fares". In 1901, Attlee went up to University College, Oxford , reading modern history . He and his brother Tom "were given a generous stipend by their father and embraced
10780-637: Was initially the Lord Privy Seal, before becoming Britain's first ever Deputy Prime Minister in 1942, as well as becoming the Dominions Secretary and Lord President of the Council on 28 September 1943. Attlee himself played a generally low key but vital role in the wartime government, working behind the scenes and in committees to ensure the smooth operation of government. In the coalition government , three inter-connected committees effectively ran
10890-471: Was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives in the 1951 general election , despite winning the most votes. He continued as Labour leader but retired after losing the 1955 general election and was elevated to the House of Lords , where he served until his death in 1967. In public, he was modest and unassuming, but behind the scenes his depth of knowledge, quiet demeanour, objectivity and pragmatism proved decisive. He
11000-467: Was no point in Labour compromising on its socialist principles in the belief that this would achieve electoral success. He wrote: "I find that the proposition often reduces itself to this – that if the Labour Party would drop its socialism and adopt a Liberal platform, many Liberals would be pleased to support it. I have heard it said more than once that if Labour would only drop its policy of nationalisation everyone would be pleased, and it would soon obtain
11110-757: Was not such a ridiculous proposition. As Dalton later acknowledged, Franco skilfully maintained Spanish neutrality, whereas Hitler would likely have occupied Spain if Franco had lost the Civil War. In 1938, Attlee opposed the Munich Agreement , in which Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler to give Germany the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia , the Sudetenland : We all feel relief that war has not come this time... we cannot, however, feel that peace has been established, but that we have nothing but an armistice in
11220-436: Was one of the major mechanisms advocated by reformist socialists and social democrats for gradually transitioning to socialism. In this context, the goals of nationalization were to dispossess large capitalists, redirect the profits of industry to the public purse, and establish some form of workers' self-management as a precursor to the establishment of a socialist economic system. Although sometimes undertaken as part of
11330-771: Was passed in April 1939. At the end of 1937, Attlee and a party of three Labour MPs visited Spain and visited the British Battalion of the International Brigades fighting in the Spanish Civil War . One of the companies was named the "Major Attlee Company" in his honour. Attlee was supportive of the Republican government in Spain, and at the 1937 Labour conference moved the wider Labour Party towards opposing what he considered
11440-502: Was promoted to the temporary rank of major , leading him to be known as "Major Attlee" for much of the inter-war period . He would spend most of 1917 training soldiers at various locations in England. From 2 to 9 July 1917, he was the temporary commanding officer (CO) of the newly formed L (later 10th) Battalion, the Tank Corps at Bovington Camp, Dorset . From 9 July, he assumed command of
11550-567: Was safe to restore democracy. He admired Oliver Cromwell 's strong-armed rule and use of major generals to control England. After looking more closely at Hitler , Mussolini , Stalin , and even his former colleague Oswald Mosley (leader of the new blackshirt fascist movement in Britain), Attlee retreated from radicalism, distanced himself from the League, and argued instead that the Labour Party must adhere to constitutional methods and stand forthright for democracy and against totalitarianism either of
11660-558: Was seen as being too old; however, he was eventually commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the 6th (Service) Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment , on 30 September 1914. On 9 February 1915 he was promoted to captain , and on 14 March was appointed battalion adjutant . The 6th South Lancashires were part of the 38th Brigade of the 13th (Western) Division , which served in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey . Attlee's decision to fight caused
11770-410: Was seen as the favourite, but was distrusted by many sections of the party, especially the left wing. Arthur Greenwood meanwhile was a popular figure in the party; however, his leadership bid was severely hampered by his alcohol problem . Attlee was able to come across as a competent and unifying figure, particularly having already led the party through a general election. He went on to come first in both
11880-454: Was the third and final general election to be held during the reign of King George VI , as he died the following year on 6 February and was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II . It was the last election in which the Conservatives did better in Scotland than in England. The 1951 election was the second one to be covered on BBC Television . On election night, the results were televised from
11990-472: Was unsuccessful, Attlee believed that it was a bold strategy which could have been successful if it had been better implemented on the ground. This led to an admiration for Churchill as a military strategist, something which would make their working relationship in later years productive. He later served in the Mesopotamian campaign in what is now Iraq , where in April 1916 he was badly wounded, being hit in
12100-458: Was widely accepted not to be a viable alternative government, owing to the National Government's overwhelming majority in the Commons. Attlee, along with Liberal leader Archibald Sinclair , was eventually consulted with by Baldwin on 24 November 1936, and Attlee agreed with both Baldwin and Sinclair that Edward could not remain on the throne, firmly eliminating any prospect of any alternative government forming were Baldwin to resign. In April 1936,
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